Never Far
by Michelle
Summary: A long time ago, she was afraid to breathe . . .


Never Far By Michelle  
  
A/N : I have not read the books lately. Hopefully, I left everything vague enough as to lack factual errors. Please let me know if there are bits I should change to avoid conflict with the book.  
  
My spell checker does not have the dictionaries for English and therefore, in addition to being un-betaed, this fic is un-spell checked. Please forgive both my lack of skill with the English language and any spelling errors. All grammatical errors are solely a product of poor teaching in rural areas. Again, suggestions are welcome.  
  
I am also working on something larger, most likely to become an Eowyn/Faramir fic. I am however, in dire need of a beta reader. Please let me know if you would be so kind as to beta for me, or know somewhere I could find someone to beta for me. Grazie!  
  
Disclaimer : All mine.  
  
And on with it, finally.  
  
***  
  
A long time ago, she was afraid to breathe.  
  
There were monsters in the darkness that could not be chased away. None could touch the deepest corners of the darkness in her room. A candle swept across the chamber, lighting corner by corner, her mother whispering soft words of encouragement . . .  
  
When one shadow was uncovered, another would take its place. In the depths of the night, she feared.  
  
Yet she rose with the morning.  
  
In the light of day she could laugh at herself for it. She did so often, blushing less and less as years went by when her brother chided her for her fears. Fears which he, brave and strong, obviously never had.  
  
Fears which would not always be unfounded. She would never forget the last time she saw her mother. Dear to her always but forevermore out of reach. She would never forget that she had no recollection of the color of her father's eyes.  
  
Years later, she was afraid to breathe for different reasons.  
  
The monsters no longer stayed in the dark shadows of the night. The monsters were real now and had names with their faces. Names and tongues, asplike, slithering and insinuating their ways into the favors of one she held so dear. Sliding and curling deeper and deeper into realms which should never have been corrupted and tearing assunder a line which should not have been broken.  
  
She would never forget the body of her cousin as he lay cooling on his bed. She would never forget the face of her uncle as he looked at her and did not see her. She would not forget the look of her brother as she handed him bread through the rungs of a dungeon cell he himself had helped repair. She would never forget the deepset, raw and vicelike hunger that seethed within the Worm's eyes as he raped her body with his gaze. This battle, she fought alone.  
  
To a young woman such as she, there was little hope left in the world.  
  
Hope came in a regal form.  
  
His light shone in the dark corners of her soul, banishing the gazes of others, or at the very least removing them from her presense.  
  
But when one shadow was uncovered, another took its place.  
  
She fought that day, intending to die. She wanted release from the glittering Hope who was no gold. She no longer wished to be a part of a world that never had a part for her. She prayed for her death. She prayed to finally recall her father's eyes. Her last battle and she would fight it alone.  
  
Yet she woke with the morning.  
  
It was not welcome.  
  
She stood now, high upon the walls of a city she would have died for, yet had not visited before her Fall.  
  
But for once, she was not alone.  
  
At her side stood a man who, fate being cruel and kind, perhaps understood something of the darkness in her soul. He did not laugh at her fears or chide her for her malcontent. Instead of the subtly demeaning way others had looked and laughed at her, there was comprehension and fraternity in the gray eyes of the stranger.  
  
A man that truly was no stranger.  
  
High upon those walls, covered in the blue and silver cloak of a woman dead more years than she had been alive, the last shadows were banished from her soul.  
  
She closed her eyes for a long second. A sudden image, unbidden traced its path across her vision. She once more saw her father, his eyes. And she remembered how to breathe.  
  
She opened her eyes.  
  
She opened her heart.  
  
Perhaps this time, the hope was not false. Perhaps this time, she could breathe in peace.  
  
The candle burned brighter; intensified.  
  
The last darkness was banished from the corners of her soul.  
  
She smiled. 


End file.
